Asylum claims down 92% in 2010

Last year two boats reached Malta’s shores carrying 47 persons on board, a significant drop of 15 boats when compared to 2009, and the lowest number in a decade.

In statistics issued for World Refugee Day, which is observed on 20 June, this decrease in irregular immigrants - largely on account of marine interceptions by Libyan and Italian armies - was the primary cause of a drop of 92.6% in the number of applications for asylum at the Office of the Refugee Commissioner.

Of the 176 applications filed by the end of last year, 65.3% involved Africans and another 33% concerned Asians. Nearly 20% of these applicants were Somali nationals. The majority, or 63.6%, were between 18 and 34 years of age while an additional 17.6% and 15.3% fell into the 0-17 and 35+ age groups respectively. Just over 80% were males.

During the year under review, the Refugee Commissioner took 348 decisions concerning asylum applicants. Positive decisions were granted to 222 individuals, of whom almost 90% concerned African nationals while the remaining 12.2% involved Asian applicants.

73% of the applicants who were granted asylum during 2010 were males and 67.1% were between 18 and 34 years of age.

By the end of 2010, 1,676 and 316 persons were residing in open centres and other institutional households respectively. More than half were living in Hal Far (Table 6). The majority of the residents (89.8%) were adults, of whom 76.6% were males. Around 10% of these residents were minors (Table 7). Of these residents, 98.2% were originating from African countries, with 62.2% and 11.5% of the total being Somali and Eritrean nationals respectively (Table 8).

Last year there were 243 persons who were found to be illegally present in Malta and 272 persons were returned to a third country. The majority of those individuals who were found to be staying illegally were between the ages of 18 and 34. Just over half were of African origin while a further 34.2% were Asians. More than half the persons who were returned to a third country were Africans.

Haha all I'm saying is that it is not helpful to label all black people that walk the street as 'illegal immigrants'.
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At the end of the day, I am in favour of banning anything which is illegal.
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I also happen to agree with Louise Vella that you can prove anything with statistics.

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You are right Louise Vella
The Political Party whips have not yet had the guts to accept a petition asking the government to curb illegal immigration.
The CNI collected more than 30,000 signatures in a few days for the petition, but the whips have not yet found the time to accept it.
Those who are against illegal immigration remember that the party whips and the political parties disregarded you at election time.

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@Louise Vella
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Please try and make a distinction between the following. Labelling any black person you see as 'illegal immigrant' does not help anyone.
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Illegal immigrants are normally deported.
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Asylum seekers are having their application considered and they may qualify for refugee status or be required to leave if they do not meet certain criteria.
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Refugees are protected by international laws of civilised countries. These are the ones that the US, Ireland, and other countries have taken and allowed to settle in their countries.
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A REFERENDUM is never, ever a good idea if you wish to protect those who have no rights. Can you imagine where we would be if Mintoff had decided to put to referendum the laws which decriminalised homosexuality in Malta?

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Whatever the statistics say, we have too many illegal immigrants roaming the streets of our towns and villages. Whoever doubts this should call for a referendum and we'll see how many illegal immigrants the people of Malta are willing to accept.